Jimtown's NSC title a surprise

WRESTLING

WRESTLING

January 25, 2009|RICARDO RAMIREZ Tribune Staff Writer

ELKHART -- Jimtown's youth and resilience exceeded expectations by accumulating 240 team points to top New Prairie for the title of the Northern State Conference wrestling meet. After finding themselves in a hole at the midway point, Jimtown wrestlers surprised themselves and coach Mark Kerrn with a third to first jump in team rankings behind a crew of underclassmen. "I didn't think we were quite up there with New Prairie or Knox yet," said Kerrn. "I've got 10 freshman and sophomores, two seniors, and three juniors. I had five freshman in the lineup today." The first of the Jimmies to win a NSC individual title was soft-spoken freshman Zach Slough at 112 pounds. Slough proved earlier in the day that he was a survivor as he over came an 11-1 disadvantage to pick up a 15-13 victory to advance in the finals. Once in the finals, Slough once again used some magic. He flipped a knotted bout in the third round in his favor and grabbed an 11-7 win over LaVille's Sean Webb in the final seconds. "I've never wrestled him before," Slough said of Webb. "It feels good. I didn't really expect to win. I thought I could at least get second." Slough was followed by another underclassmen minutes later as 125-pound sophomore Collin Crume. Crume, also competing in his first conference championship, shot in the waning seconds of the third round to steal two points a second before time expired to send the title match with Knox's Kyle Hernandez into overtime. He summoned a another quick two points for the sudden death win. "We had a lot of wrestling through three periods," said Kerrn. "I don't know how many came down to the final seconds. They wrestled whistle to whistle." It was the Jimmies' resilience that shined throughout. All 14 Jimmie wrestlers made it into one of the top four spots to earn valuable team points. The Jimmies finished with four champions, a pair of runner-ups, and five third-place finishes. It was the seldom-appreciated third place finishes that allowed Jimtown to claim the crown. Earning the same number of first place finishes and a 3-2 advantage in second places finishes, New Prairie was beat in the third-place category, 5-1. New Prairie's Kannon Keigley was one of four Cougars to claim a first with a fall in the first round over Knox's Nathan Chambers. JIMTOWN 240, NEW PRAIRIE 235.5, 231, KNOX 231, GLENN 118, TRITON 116, LAVILLE 102, BREMEN 91, CULVER 50At ElkhartChampionship103: Matt Lindsey (T) pinned Mike Wireman (LV), 0:39; 112: Zach Slough (J) dec. Sean Webb (LV) 11-7; 119: Danny Bradley (K) pinned Hayden Davies (J) 1:56; 125: Collin Crume (J) dec Kyle Hernandez (K) 4-2; 130: Justin Bogart (B) dec Joe Zigler (NP) 5-2; 135: Jeremy Hill (J) pinned Dane Kline (LV) 5:02; 140: Dillan Escobedo (NP) pinned Darius Stevens (T) 4:50; 145: Niles Goodman (NP) pinned Preston Pittman (LV) 2:49; 152: Jordan Martin (NP) pinned Mike Hernandez (K) 4:22; 160: Jimmy Krause (K) dec Ryan Balanow (NP) 6-3; 171: Zach Sprugeon (J) dec Robert Molebash (C) 3-1; 189: Alex Windbigler (K) dec Eric Singleton (NP) 12-9; 215: Kannon Keigley (NP) pinned Nathan Chambers (K) 1:41; 285: Craig Fitzgarald (G) dec Zach Stone (J) 4-1. Consolation103: Dominc Garrett (J) dec Reese Armstrong (NP) 9-6; 112: Travis Mowery (G) pinned Dakota Martin (K) 0:59; 119: Kaleb McCallum (G) dec Cody Dubich (NP) 8-6; 125: Justin Keyser (B) maj. dec. Tyler Paarlberg (NP) 13-5; 130: JohnMichael Moore (J) dec Devann Biddle (K) 11-6; 135: Aaron Jeske (NP) dec Travis Wintczak (K) 7-2; 140: Matt Hill (J) Cody Strange (G) 4-3; 145: Zach Myers (J) dec Tyler Potthoff (K) 9-3; 152: Brandon Weinkauf (J) dec Josh Dunbar (G) 6-1; 160: Zach Clark (T) dec Justin Wagers (J) 5-1; 171: Adam Wienbrenner (K) dec Jeff Jurczak (NP) 8-5; 189: Alan Bollenbacjer (B) dec Dustin Chafin (J) 2-1; 215: Tommy James (C) dec Robert Deering (J) 5-2; 285: Aaron Haines (T) dec Logan Short (K) 7-6.